When checking out, the lady at the campground said she would normally charge us the full rate since we camped in an RV spot but if I didn't say anything she would cut me a break. Not only did she not charge us for the RV rate, she also gave us the Good Sam discount which was a couple of bucks less than the regular camping rate, score! Thank you!

Lori booked us into a B&B in anchorage for a couple of days. The B&B is basically a regular house in a regular neighbourhood. Our bed was comfortable enough and the room had a retro music motif going on. Breakfast was ok, definitely not as fancy shmancy as the B&B we stayed at in Quebec, which set the bar pretty high.

We spent a couple of hours at breakfast chatting with another couple staying there, then spent another couple of hours on the phone calling family back home. It was well into the afternoon before we finally made it out the door. We were both super hungry by then so we decided on an early dinner at Moose's Tooth, for some Za!

The next morning while having breakfast, I got an email from REI saying our tent had arrived. Woohoo! Good thing as we were leaving Anchorage today. Our old tent, the Sierra Designs HT3 Lightning had been leaking for some time. The seam tape had started to flake off pretty much everywhere and although I tried to clean it up and re-apply seam sealer, I ultimately thought it was a bit premature for a tent to have such a problem. Since we bought our old tent at REI back in Feb, we were able to return it no problem. Not sure how it’s possible, but when looking at both packed tents sitting next to each other on the counter, the new REI Half Dome 4 actually packs smaller, go figure. In the end, it cost us less than $40 to upgrade to our new home. Not a bad deal.

Before we could even leave the parking lot of the REI, we met a young dude, Chase, who is about to drive his custom built Isuzu from Mexico to the east coast and then eventually down to Ushuaia. Cool!

We’ve lost track of the number of conversations we’ve started in a parking lot next to our bike. It typically goes like this: We pull up to a Tim Hortons (insert your favourite coffee shop here), get off the bike and someone comes up and strikes up a conversation. 15 minutes later we make it inside and order something to warm us up and someone else strikes up a conversation with us as we sit down at a table. Then when leaving we get our jacket, earplugs and helmet on, and sure enough someone comes up and starts up another conversation. Off come the helmets and earplugs, cause you know, I CAN’T HEAR WITH THEM IN. But seriously, it’s been a blast meeting new people this way for us. The loaded Tigger seems to attract a great deal of attention and people are always curious.



It was noon by the time we rolled out of town so we went back to Wasilla (or Wasabi as I called it for some reason) for some lunch. Finally getting back on the ROAD, we snaked our way out of town through another small town and along a massively wide riverbed that was a relative trickle now in August. Between the river and the mountains behind it, it was difficult to keep focus on the road. I gave myself a virtual smack for taking one of the turns a bit wide which sent us across the double yellow. Luckily no other vehicles occupied that space at the time.

Both the frequency of snow capped peaks and the size of them increased as we rode on. Ultimately it was about 200km before the scenery flattened out. But before it did, we got treated to several glaciers. The largest (or so it seemed) and closest to the road was the Matanuska Glacier.







Simply mesmerizing! Virtually no cars occupied the parking lot or the pull off another half mile further up the road.


We kept up a pretty good pace after that running into some strong winds about an hour outside of Glenallen. We also ran into (or rather "out of") another problem we haven't had since the east coast. We almost ran out of gas. We pulled into Glenallen on fumes and filled up on over 5 gallons. 19.54 litres to be precise, out of a possible 20 litres.

Approaching Glenallen we got another beautiful treat in the form of, yup you guessed it, another mountain range. This time it was the Wrengell's. Wow! I thought if we run out of gas, at least I have that view if I have to walk.


Just after leaving Glenallen we came across an airstrip with Mount Drum in the background.


Please believe me when I say that the pics don't even come close to doing this justice. It was almost surreal!


Tigger always trying to steal the spotlight...

The GPS indicated we'd be in Tok at 9:20 so we cranked the throttle a bit, trying to make up a few minutes. We both wanted to get in as early as we can due to the really long day we have tomorrow but also didn't want to be on the road so late in the day with all the wildlife out here. All of a sudden we got passed by a van so we kept it in sight till Tok. I didn't mind doing 85 for a while, especially knowing the van in front of us was paving the way. We passed a couple of vehicles heading in our direction and maybe two heading in the opposite. The road definitely had a remote feel to it. I asked Lori if she still felt the same about the remoteness of the roads, like she did earlier, “no, not nearly as much," she replied.

We pulled up to the campground right at 9, Thompsons Eagle Claw. Definitely highly recommended for bikers. Due to our (hopefully) early departure tomorrow, we opted for a bunk cabin to help speed things along in the morning. Our new tent would have to wait. $20 for the both of us and we even got to use the wood burning outdoor sauna.









You can even sleep in an old ambulance. The place is just too cool!

Packing up our cabin in the morning.


Somewhere along the way we noticed the sun halo above us.

I’m not sure I can describe how I felt today. The day definitely typified what Alaska is all about for me. Remote, mountains, glaciers, just mesmerizing stuff.

I’m tempted to end the Alaskan story right here. But the next day, we left Tok and headed for Haines, Alaska. The coolest part is that we’ll be in Alaska, Yukon, BC, and back to Alaska all in a single day.

About an hour outside Beaver Creek, we saw our first Grizzly bear, as it crossed the road in front of us and then ran along side the bike on our left for a bit before zagging into the bush. Construction was pretty shitty today and the weather around Destruction Bay was bitter at best.

Once into BC, the temp dropped to 9.5C at the peak of another mountain range. Amazing cloud formations enveloping the mountains around us. Even at 3,000 feet, we were essentially in the clouds. The landscape appeared to be more tundra than anything else. No trees what so ever, just shrubs and rocks. Definitely the coldest we've been in the last 5 weeks. We put our rain jackets on as it started to sprinkle, actually I think it was more the fact we were traveling through the clouds at the time but it definitely helped warm us up a bit. Of course we started descending almost right away and within minutes we were at the border crossing, where it was back to a balmy 15C.

Other than the cold, it was a stunning ride into Haines. Even sitting here at the Bamboo Room splitting an order of fish and chips ($24 for a regular order of fish& chips on the coast - WTF?) we could see glaciers on the mountains surrounding Haines. Spectacular!

Tomorrow we’re taking the ferry from Haines to Juneau, then to Prince Rupert. Here's a little video I've stitched together of our Alaska trip with a sneak peak of the ferry crossing.

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Nice photos, I took that ferry in the opposite direction last year, stunning and a highlight of our trip, hope you are as lucky as us with the whale watching!
Safe travels
Gino

Thanks, not as much luck with the whale watching on this trip. We did see some but they were pretty far away.

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We ended up skipping some of the spots we were hoping on visiting due to the record rainfalls along the coast in Alaska this summer. Valdez, Seward, Homer, all will have to wait for another trip.



Haines was also a wet experience, from the time we arrived to boarding the ferry the next morming. Our dry spell was officially coming to a close, over 5 weeks with less than 3 hours of rain while riding was pretty amazing.



Although it was cold and the clouds hung low hugging the surrounding mountains, we still spent most of the crossing topside under the covered (and heated) section. There is a helicopter landing pad next to the covered section where you can actually camp overnight. I think that would have been a pretty cool experience but we were getting off in Juneau a few hours later anyway.





Our escape pod at the ready.





The clouds parted every so often at what seemed the perfect times.





Waterfalls and glaciers everywhere.









Just stunning.







We could have taken this ferry all the way to Prince Rupert, but for some reason the more direct route would have us arriving in Prince Rupert after midnight, so we opted for the one day lay over in Juneau. We had a few hours before we could check into our accommodations for the night, so we hit the town.





Dinner at the world famous Red Dog Saloon.





Pretty cool place inside, everything from the entrance way, to the staff wearing period costumes (at least the ladies), to the sawdust on the floor and live entertainment, all fantastic.



We stayed at the International Youth Hostel, and contrary to the name, there are no age limits to stay here. Nice place, strict rules (so no setting up your tent in the wrong spot), clean, laundry facilities, but it’s located on the side of the mountain essentially, so parking the bike took a little thought. You also have to sign up for a chore but for $12, I think it was an excellent bargain.



The next morning we left the bike parked at the hostel and spent the day walking around town. Our motorcycle rain jackets coming in handy here, although most sidewalks downtown are sheltered by a canopy. We stopped at The Rookery Cafe for brekky (a little pricey but overall excellent), and later had an early dinner at Hanger on the Wharf (much more reasonable $ wise) and excellent views as it's located right on the water.





Found this little gem in one of the stores. Hey everything's better with bacon after all.



It was a soggy but enjoyable 2 days in Juneau. As we rode to the ferry later in the afternoon, we got treated to another dumping of rain, and not one but 3 bald eagles perched on the light fixtures along the highway.



"Nothing combustable, no spare fuel, anything like that?", asked the crewman as we were about to board the ferry. "Nope", was my response. As we pulled away, he yelled at us to stop. "Then what's that?", he yelled pointing at the RotoPax under the side case. Oh oh! "A spare fuel canister...but it's never been used", I yelled back. "Never?". "Nope, as in it's essentially brand new", I replied. "You just said the right words", he said, "carry on". Whew! Of course I completely forgot about the bottle of stove fuel that I have strapped between the side case and the bike. Good thing his eagle eyes weren't working overtime. Another thing to note if you ever find yourself taking these ferries is that you need to bring your own straps to tie the bike down.





Lori taking a picture of me trying to take a picture of our cabin aboard the Taku. I'd love to show you what my photo looked like, but the camera refused to take a picture for some reason. It was right at this moment that I realized why the Nikon wasn't taking any pics. We lost the memory card. Luckily, we had just transferred over all the pics from the card to the laptop that morning. Whew!



Our cabin was quite small, although worth every penny of the $60 we paid for each night. It came with a bunk bed and it's own bathroom. As appealing as camping on the top deck was (at least for me), it was nice to have our own little space and our own shower. If you're tenting, you have to take the tent down every morning as the area is used by everyone on board. Or of course you could forgo the tent and cowboy camp instead (just the mattress pad and sleeping bag).





We got settled in and made our way back outside just in time for departure and what turned out to be a spectacular sunset.





Mendenhall Glacier coming into view as we pulled away from port.

















Watching the clouds you'd swear they were alive.









A final look back. Wow!





After a great nights sleep, we awoke to a beautiful sunny and crisp morning.





This was most of the scenery today. We actually decided to put the camera away and enjoy the rest of the day just hanging out. Later, Lori took an afternoon nap while I caught up on the blog a bit.



Of all the port stops the ferry made, Petersburg was the most entertaining. The sun had set about an hour before and it was completely dark when we departed Petersburg for Wrangell. At first I thought we were going back the same way we came into Petersburg as the channel straight ahead looked way too narrow for a boat this size. Nope. Ahead full it was. I could make out the sea of red and green beacon lights in front us that we would have to navigate, they were all over the place, some to the left some to the right, like a maze almost. If this was a highway, we surely would have seen the "winding road for the next 15 miles" sign. "This should be fun", I thought. We grabbed a seat at the front of the boat next to about a dozen other passengers.



Every few minutes we'd see the big spotlight shine onto shore, checking how close we were, and close we were! I could have easily tossed a baseball underhanded to someone on the shore. The Helmsman was just putting on a show as we were literally zig zagging our way through the narrow channel. In fact Lori left and returned a few minutes later with popcorn, this was better than going to the movies. I wondered if it was more exciting to see this during the day or night?





The next morning we encountered some cool looking fog on our port side. It was also apparently a good time to complete the "weekly abandon ship drill". I wasn't sure if this was something we should be concerned over or not, you know, "oh it's only a drill", meanwhile...Ultimately it really was a drill and we sailed on without incident.





Star(jelly)fish?





The elusive tail shot, or about as close as we got to one. Although we did see some whales today, they were a significant distance away for any good photos. We’re not too disappointed though, our best whale watching experience continues to be in Maui, where we spent 2 fantastic weeks camping in early 2013. The whales that are in Alaska in the summer can be found migrating to Maui for the winter. So if you miss them here, I guess you’ll just have to book a flight to Hawaii.



Overall we really enjoyed the ferry. Everything I read about it, prior to booking it was that it was fantastic. It was one of the reasons we decided to take the plunge . I have to agree, it was one of the best experiences we've had. It really added so much to the Alaskan leg of our trip, not only did we get a break from riding, but the scenery was just incredible. The sailing was smooth for the most part, Lori said she woke up the first night due to the motion, where I found that it actually helped me sleep. Food was very good, better in fact than the ferry to Newfoundland. Lori feels at home by the sea so this was an absolute treat for her, for us both. It was nice to have he downtime and we both felt like we just had a mini vacation by the time we pulled into Prince Rupert.

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Excellent pics thanks Mark

We arrived in Prince Rupert somewhat refreshed from our mini vacation on board the Taku ferry. Our next destination? The Horizons Unlimited (HU) meeting in Nakusp. We were also super excited about having upgraded our accommodations to something waterproof as it rained our first night in Hazelton.


Hagwilget suspension bridge just outside Hazelton, BC, is a single lane bridge 460 feet in length and suspended 262 feet above the water.

Day 2 weather began overcast and we quickly rode into rain. It was teeming by the time we rolled into Prince George. I guess it was appropriate enough as we were celebrating our 3 month-iversary on the road. The odometer indicating we had travelled 24,500 km's in that time. We were essentially on pace to ride 100,000 km's in one year. 2 up! In 3 months, we've gone coast to coast, Newfoundland to Alaska, and then some. We really have to slow down.

Our camping experience in Quesnel that evening, or should I say mine, was also appropriate for our anniversary. While using the campground shower, I reached up to adjust the shower head as it was directed at the side of the shower stall. A second later I was standing there holding the shower head in my hand. It had simply come off the wall, with significant ease I might add. The water as now shooting out like a jet at the side of the shower stall. I had already spent the first 2 minutes of the precious 5 minute shower time allotted by my 2 Loonies (paid shower) waiting for the hot water to arrive and now I had some plumbing to do before getting to the actual showering part.

Then just before climbing into to the tent for the night I went over to use the faucet at the neighbouring campsite to brush my teeth, since our site didn't have any water. I reached down to turn the water on, and immediately the water shot out every which way but down, spraying all over my pants. Seems someone thought it would be an excellent idea to screw a bottle cap to the end of the tap. Total Mr. Bean camping experience. Or perhaps the universe just giving me a gentle poke. Things aren't always going to go your way. This is how we got started remember?


The next morning we headed into town for a Tim Horton's brekky but found Granville's Coffee shop serving up real breakfast so we ended up there. Cool little place.

The temperature was up and down all day today. We started out at about 15C and were up to about 30C by the time we cruised through Cache Creek. The landscape dramatically different here, super dry, it looked like it would make a great backdrop for a western. After a stop in Vernon to do some laundry and dinner, we ended up in Lumby at a municipal campground for the night, and back down to about 15C.

We were left with a relatively short 150km ride to Nakusp the next day. Between us and Nakusp stood a short ferry crossing in Needles and one of the most fantastic roads in BC, highway 6. Super twisty and freshly paved. Zoom zoom zoom!


Stopping for a round of golf? Nope.


As we rode past we saw this sign and a bunch of motorcycles parked out front. So we decided to pull in for some brekky.

Happy to arrive a day early for the HU meeting, we had our pick of camping sites. It was actually nice to stay in the same place for several days, in fact we had trouble leaving after the HU meeting and I became concerned we were growing roots, but I'll get to that shortly.

Yes I realize this is being posted on HU, but it's essentially a mirror from our blog and I didn't see the need to re-write this section. I suppose this falls under preaching to the choir.

If you're not familiar with Horizons Unlimited, it's a fantastic resource for worldwide overland travel. You can find info on everything from planning your own world wide adventure on two wheels, gear talk, ride reports from other travellers, to info on shipping your vehicle (or your pants), trip paperwork and so much more. Why go to a HU travellers meeting? Well, to quote their website:

But it should also come with a warning, because going to one of these will likely take that little smouldering idea you have in the back of your head for some distant trip and turn it into a burning fire of reality.

This HU meeting was no exception. it was a fantastic experience much like the one we attended last year in Ontario. Last year though we were getting ready for this trip and actually had to leave the event early as our newly listed house was getting significant attention. It was a little bit different experiencing this years event not as dreamers but as travellers. We also decided to volunteer our time to help out with registration and photo taking during the event, both of which helped us meet dozens of new people and make some very cool friendships.


Lori showing off her kung fu shirt folding skills at the registration desk.


As usual there were lots of presentations from those who had already travelled to far away places like Iceland, South America, Africa, Russia, Mongolia and South East Asia to name a few. Fantastic stories, tips, tricks and general info.


Some had come from as far away as Australia.


Grant doing his usual tire change presentation which always gets a large crowd and of course there was Nevil, who tells a tale like no one else.


Nevil did some very cool presentations on fixing your bike with things like duct tape, zip ties, WD40 and using things found laying around in the bush. I called him the Motorcycle Whisperer.


Home away from home.


Some brought even more comforts of home.






Lot of cool bikes.


Tigger even had some company over the weekend.


There was even a skills course set up. Some showing how to ride in the sand.


I think that Tigger was a little overwhelmed by all the excitement and needed a nap. Its first dirt nap.




Glad to see other bikes were also getting tired.


Lori making new friends.


Meet Ducati, he's riding down to Argentina with a couple on two Suzuki DR650's. You can read about his side of the story on their blog smboilerworks here.

If you're thinking motorcycle travel may be in your future, I highly recommend attending one of these events in your area. Super informative, inspirational and a great way to meet like minded (karazy) folks like yourself.

Since we had no real plan of action for leaving Nakusp, we decided to stay Sunday night. We also found that we were super busy the entire weekend either helping out or attending all the presentations. Not to mention all the unscripted evening activities that went on, campfires burning, beverages flowing. As it turned out another couple, Steve & Jeanette from the UK, who are riding a Tiger 800 from Alaska down to Argentina, also had the same idea and stayed back. We ended up cooking dinner over the fire and hanging out together. Check out their blog Tiger800RTW here.

In the morning, one of our new friends Onno, came around and we all ended up spending the morning at Fairytale Cafe in town. By the afternoon, Steve & Jeanette had packed up and left to continue their RTW adventure while we decided it would be a good idea to empty every bit of our luggage and go through everything in an attempt to slim down and eliminate anything we didn’t need or hadn’t used.



So we thought "hey what's another night". Tomorrow! Tomorrow for sure we'll leave. But where to? One thing we did make a decision on was how we would travel from now on. We had been travelling far too fast and it was literally exhausting. We were on pace to ride 100,000km in a year. Now a small part of me thinks that's kind of cool, but in reality, it means riding long days and not exactly seeing everything that we're riding past.

Now in all fairness the last 3 months were a self imposed timeline as we wanted to see Newfoundland first and then also get up to Alaska before attending the HU meeting. We considered going to Alaska after the HU meeting but our original plan also had us riding to North Carolina after the HU meeting to the Overland Expo. I say original, because over the last few days here in Nakusp, we talked a great deal about our speed and how riding all the way back to NC would see us keeping up pretty much the same pace we have been so far. Neither one of us was looking forward to that. Now don't get me wrong here, this isn't a complaint. We both really appreciate being out here. It's an opportunity not everyone gets and we both feel immensely privileged to be able to do it. But since we don't have to be back at the end of the week, why rush through it all, just to get somewhere? What if we didn't have to be in NC in a month and just took our time riding down the coast, we asked ourselves?

Invigorated and inspired by the HU meeting and also the break from traveling, we packed up and headed out Tuesday at the crack of noon. We made it as far as the Main Street in Nakusp, I mean we had to eat after all. Oh and while we're at it, we might as well get caught up online, post an update on Facebook, upload all the pics we took over the week, maybe write a blog entry.


Here's a little time lapse video of everyone leaving on Sunday.

It seems leaving Nakusp is not an entirely easy thing to do. Fair warning in case you make it to the little town, which is beautiful by the way. Earlier in the week I noticed an apartment for rent sign posted at one of the businesses downtown. I though if we stayed any longer we might as well see if we can rent the place. We finally managed to break free from the strange invisible grip the place had on us at 5:07pm. Our destination? I didn't care. As long as it wasn't Nakusp.


I always knew there was treasure at the end of the rainbow.

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We managed to ride a whopping 92.1km upon leaving Nakusp and ended up camping in Kaslo that night. Hey that’s quite a bit considering our post-5pm departure. It’s officially our smallest mileage day to date, our smallest mileage week for that matter. Yup, I think this slowing down business is going well. Not a lot happening in Kaslo but the road going into town, 31A is quite twisty and very scenic. It was as if the road was welcoming us back. I will say that I had some of the best fish & chips at a little booth next to the gas station at the main intersection of the little town.

Tigger had his second dirt nap while we were setting up the tent, seemingly spontaneous. I had parked the bike on a hill and apparently quite upright. Lori removed the bag with all our camping gear and we were literally in the middle of setting up our tent a couple of minutes later when we heard the loud thump and looked over to see the bike on its side.

We had such a long tough week we decided we needed a break at the Ainsworth Hot Springs after breakfast the next morning. It definitely helped melt some of that tension away .

When having trouble deciding on a route, look at a map and find the twistiest road you can. Our friend Onno let us use his Destination Highways map while we were touring around BC, which we decided to use as our planning guide. Destination Highway maps are essentially created for bikers and highlight the more scenic and twisty stuff, there’s also an accompanying booklet (which we didn’t have) that describes each road in more detail. Not exactly cheap but if you live in the area and are able to explore every nook and cranny shown, it might be worth a look.

According to the Destination Highways map we were now equipped with, 3A running right along Kootanay Lake is one of the best riding roads in BC. It was definitely nice but after arriving in Creston at the southern terminus, I'm not sure I agree. Certainly 31A was much better and Highway 6 between Lumby and the Needles ferry scores way more points, from me anyway, as far as the best riding road in BC. Perhaps this is all too subjective anyway.



Over the next couple of days we made our way towards Kelowna where Onno and his wife Chieko hosted us for a night and I was able to change the oil on the bike in their garage. Did you know sawdust is great for absorbing oil spills. Good thing Onno has plenty of the stuff. Thank you very much for the hospitality guys.

We were welcomed by rain as we left Kelowna and the temperature dropped to about 7C as we gained elevation on Highway 97C, back to single digits, back to status quo. Lori did her usual “I’m cold…my lips are turning blue…me, me, me”, so we stopped at a Starbucks in Merritt to thaw her out and discovered the line up was out the door. Busiest SB we’ve been to so far, although the service was pretty good.


The weather cleared right up as soon as we left Merritt




The scenery started to remind me of the Badlands area as we headed northwest on 8 towards Cache Creek.


Outta my way

Crossing the bridge just before Lillooet, we noticed a perfect little campground along the river below us. A sign greeted us as we pulled: “NO TENTS”. Hmmm, sadly I couldn't talk Lori into cowboy camping. Did I mention it was completely empty? Oh well. During dinner in town, Lori found us another campground just down the road. Gotta love that ALLSTAYS app! It was nearly dark by the time we found the place though as the GPS and actual location were a few miles apart.

As we were setting up a very strange looking man rides up on this old beater of a bicycle and starts chatting us up, telling us about the black bear that came around the day before and ate all his pears. After a few minutes he says “just give me $10 for the site”. After he left we both wondered out loud if he was the real owner of the place or just another guest. Strange dude, and since no one else came around looking for money, I'd say he was probably the former.


Interesting campground, lots of antiques laying around, campsite seating brought to you by the back seat of a (former) car. Much to Lori's joy, we had another bear free experience. I guess the bear must have been full from the night before.

The following morning we took Highway 99 hoping to make Whistler for breakfast. Just a brilliant stretch of road leaving Lillooet. Definitely worth a mention as the highway twists and carves its way around mountain peak after mountain peak, I found myself wondering aloud "where did this come from?" as I tossed the bike into one S-bend after another. The temperature hovered around 7C throughout the morning, the fog hugging the mountain tops turned to cloud and eventually rain.


Just can't seem to lose the snow.


Or the rain.


By the time we arrived in Whistler we were ready for a hot meal and drink. Warm and dry-ish, we took a walk around Olympic Village.

About halfway to Vancouver, highway 99 turns into the famous Sea-to-Sky highway, something I had been looking forward to for some time. Although I think it may have been a better experience without the rain and low cloud cover, I have to say I was not that impressed. On the other hand I was blown away with the first section leaving Lillooet. This has happened on a few occasions now and after thinking about it, I think it has a lot to do with expectations. I had none of the first section of road and it was spectacular. The Sea-to-Sky highway, I was expecting to be spectacular and found it just ok. In all fairness a twisty road in the mountains with zero traffic, beats congested and scenic any day of the week. Although beautiful, we found Whistler and the Sea-to-Sky to be very touristy and busy.

We rolled over 30,000km on the odometer today (26,500km for the trip) - WooHoo!

We found ourselves on the ferry heading to Vancouver Island shortly after brekky. Our new friends Mark & Leslie who we met at the Horizons Unlimited meeting a few days ago, invited us to stay with them on the island. Hard to refuse a fantastic offer and great company like that.


The next day Mark & Leslie took us out to McMillan Provincial Park where we got a chance to walk amongst trees as old as 800 years. Perhaps not nearly as impressive as the Redwoods but definitely the largest we’ve seen so far.




Mark & Leslie are real tree huggers.


The “Goats on the Roof” market was also pretty cool.


Kinda reminds me of a horny Chewbacca.


It was an absolute treat to have a roof over our heads, shower, laundry, amazing food and fantastic company for a couple of days. We also both agree, that was THE most comfy sofa bed we have ever slept on. We can’t thank you guys enough for your amazing hospitality.

Since we had no real plan, Leslie suggested we ride out to Tofino and check out the beaches. Sure! Unfortunately about halfway there our old nemesis H2O came crashing down on us again, in Monsoon fashion. Highway 4 is another road that I would have preferred to ride on a nicer day. We made it as far as Ucluelet before waving the white flag. It had also stopped raining and we were hungry.


We found a campground in town with a spectacular view.



We awoke to the sounds of pitter patter on our tent in the morning. The forecast for the next few days - more rain. I’m sure the Tofino beaches are real nice and we were so close but neither one of us wanted to stick around to find out. We packed up and headed back the way we came. I learned a valuable less this day: never complain about how bad the rain is, because it can always get worse. Before we were even out of Ucluelet, the rain went from hard rain, to Monsoon like, and then…it got even worse. Leslie later described it as “Biblical rain”. We stopped in Port Albernie at a Tim’s to warm up. Our table was soon surrounded by a small lake of water that our rain gear managed to create. Not sure how it’s possible but Lori’s rain gear seems to be sucking, I’m fairly dry under my rain jacket and pants and she is completely soaked. Total head scratcher as we have the exact same rain gear at this point. We left Tim Horton’s with hotel reservations in Victoria. As hard as I tried, I just couldn’t talk my soaking wife into setting up our already soaked tent tonight - I just don’t get it!

As for the Biblical rain, well it kept us company all the way to Victoria. Seems pretty appropriate considering we ended our east coast adventure on Newfoundland with an all day rain-fest. Why should our Vancouver Island ride be any different?

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In contrast to the previous day, we awoke to clear skies and sunshine, birds were singing, the tank was clean…THE TANK WAS CLEAN?! Brekky was at the waterfront Breakwater Cafe & Bistro.


Real potatoes tossed in rosemary & sage, real bacon and eggs - delicious!


The Fairmont Empress hotel in the background...where we did not spend last night.


Parliament building.




Gate…black.


The boat in the foreground actually doubles as a bus when out of the water - seriously. The smaller craft past that is a water taxi - there were dozens of them around here. Oh and behind that, the front end of a mega yacht - the rest wouldn't fit in the shot.


The waterfront in Victoria is quite picturesque. Another city we would love to spend some more time in, add that to the ever growing bucket list.



The ferry to Port Angeles was actually the roughest crossing we've had to date. There was about a 10 minute stretch at one point where the boat swayed side to side so much that I actually thought we'd go down to find the bike laying over, even though it was tied down against the wall. Getting through customs was a very atypical experience. We actually had to go through customs in Victoria harbour, where you get locked down in the parking area at the ferry terminal about 90 min before the boat even arrives. When the customs officer came over, we basically chatted about the coffee we were drinking. He looked at our passport and the customs form we filled out, and told us to take both inside another building. No "where are you going" or "how long will you be there", nothing. Easy peazy! The poor guys that arrived on bikes 10 min later got a much different experience. They totally got grilled by a very different guard about pretty much everything. I'm pretty sure there were some latex gloves sticking out from his back pocket. He looked at us and asked if we had already been checked in. We couldn't say YES fast enough.

After a quick fill up in Port Angeles, we took off down the famed highway 101, another bucket list item for me. I had read and heard enough of the 101, that this highway made its way to my bucket list quite a long time ago. Let me say that the northern section around the Olympic Peninsula did not disappoint. Super twisty and super fun around Lake Crescent. Lori found us a campground supposedly right on the ocean, Kalaloch campground, about 150km down the highway so that’s where we headed.

We arrived to find the place was better than advertised, with spectacular views of the ocean and we quickly grabbed a site across the driveway from the ocean front sites. We had already set up our stuff and I was trying to dry our tent out when a couple of young ladies on bicycles came up and said that they just paid for this very site. WTF? The sign clearly says to set up first, then pay. Instead of getting into an argument with them, I immediately suggested we split the site since there was plenty of room for all of us. Our share for the site…$7 - for (almost) ocean front camping.


"No honey, your hairdryer isn't in the tent...yes I'm pretty sure". I was actually trying to dry out our tent, it was still wet from Ucluelet.

In the morning the girls packed up and continued on their trek and as we discussed our plan, the spot across from us became available. This was one of THE PRIME ocean front spots. We quickly moved our stuff and decided to stay another day. We later learned this is known as the Kalaloch Shuffle.


Drying out Lori's riding gear.


Hey honey, I got wood!



In fact, the next morning we decided to stay a few more. Other than the heavy fog in the mornings, the rest of the days were perfectly sunny and in the 20’s. It’s the beginning of September and we were getting our first official tan of the year.

Judging by the number of people coming by every morning asking if we were leaving, this was indeed prime camping real estate. Kalaloch Lodge is a short walk down the road and has a full service restaurant, not cheap by the way. If you ever stop here pass on the $3.50 coffee in the restaurant and get it at the store right next door. Exact same cup of coffee for $1.25. Go figure.


View from Kalaloch Lodge.


Pretty much what every sunset looked like here.

One night I found myself awake at 3am needing a bathroom break. I stepped out of the tent to witness the wildest moonset ever. I tried to get Lori to come out but she was all snuggled up and declined.


Sadly this was the best picture I managed to take before it set a few minutes later. It more resembled a sunset, with its orange glow reflecting on the Pacific Ocean. Truly one of the most unique sights I have ever seen.


Our last night, our campsite neighbours came over and offered us some of their home made apple pie. Totally awesome! Easily our most favourite camping spot to date. We would have stayed much longer had there been shower facilities and cell service or wifi, but for $14 and those views, we weren’t complaining one bit.

I somehow managed to talk Lori into leaving the ocean behind (not an easy thing to do let me tell you, especially after we determined that Lori is solar and ocean powered) and going to see Mt Rainier and Mt St Helens. I think she took advantage and talked me into staying indoors for a night (or two - I think I actually suggested we stay the second night), something about if I get the mountains, she wants a hot shower and a bed, I don’t get it…

We also had a few administrative tasks building up and needed some attention, one of which was to print off an insurance slip for the bike. The temporary one had expired about a month ago and I had forgotten all about it. Luckily we didn’t meet up with any LEO’s in that time. We had to mail home a care package of gifts we had been carrying for a bit and I also needed to locate a new rear tire.


2 days later, with our to-do list checked off and a tire waiting for us in Medford OR, we boarded the train for dinner, literally. Someone built a restaurant inside an old train. This place is going nowhere fast!


Looked pretty legit on the inside.

Located in Mount Rainier National Park, we stopped at Cougar Rock Campground for the night. The National Parks pass we bought earlier in the trip had already paid for itself a while back. Definitely recommended if you plan on visiting more than a few national parks during a 12 month period.



Lori had an eventful night when she ran into some bush-bears during her late night bathroom escapade. What’s a bush bear you ask? Great question, I’m not sure either but she was surrounded by them. Leaving the bathroom, Lori shall we say got “turned around” and didn’t know exactly how to get back to the tent. With a fading flashlight (the batteries were conveniently almost dead), she did a little sightseeing trying to find her way back and apparently every bush she looked at was a bear ready to pounce. She walked right past our loop and to another loop and managed to find the other bathroom, it was well lit after all. She said she was tempted to just stay there and wait for daylight but instead had another pee and headed back out. Braving all the bush-bears, she eventually found her way back. I was sound asleep during all this and didn’t hear about her adventure till the morning. I have a feeling my idea of going to the bathroom a few feet from the tent might be growing on her.


In the morning we left the bush-bears behind and headed to Mt Rainier.


It was easy to get excited, for me at least. Lori was quick to point out that there wasn’t any ocean around here.




Look honey, there's an ocean-like body of water...


Quite a spectacular view. I knew Mt Rainier was home to some glaciers but I was a bit surprised to find out it has 26 major glaciers.

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@ Lori's midnight adventure with the bush bears

Following the Destination Highways map, we found a pretty fun road, NF-26, to take us towards Mt St Helens. Although paved, it’s essentially a single lane road that winds it’s way through the Cascades towards NF-99. It had a very remote feeling as we only passed 1 vehicle the entire time.



Evidence of the 1980 Mt St Helens volcanic eruption lay all around us as we rode south through the blowdown zone. Thousands upon thousands of massive trees blown over by the initial blast covered the landscape, more resembling very large matchsticks. It’s difficult to imagine a 1,200 degree (F) pyroclastic flow travelling over these mountains at 125 MPH destroying everything in its path for 370 square kilometres.



Fantastic view of Spirit Lake from here. More matchsticks laying about in the lake, even now 34 years later.



Climbing up to get a better view.



The view better be worth it!



Oh yeah!



Mount St Helens, minus about 1300 feet that was blown away in 1980.



Can you spot the observatory in the distance?



No?



How about now?

As we were about to hike back down from the look out point, we met up with a young couple riding BMW’s - Steve and Becky. Steve caught the name of the dealership where I bought the bike from the plate on our bike and said something about being a long way from home. The next few moments went something like this:
Us: “We’re actually from the other side of Toronto.”
Steve: “I used to live about 45 min west of Toronto.”
Us: “No kidding, we lived west of Hamilton.”
Steve: “I’m from St George.”
Us: “We know St George, we’re from Paris.”
Steve: “I used to live in Paris.”
Us: “No way!”
Steve: “Yeah, by the cemetery off Freeman Street.”
Us: “We lived on Dundas St right behind the cemetery.”
Steve: “That’s where I lived, on Dundas Street.”
Us: “You have got to be kidding! We lived in the condos right on the corner by Freeman Street.”
Steve: “I lived in the first house next to the driveway to those condos.”
We all just stood there for a moment with this stunned look on our faces, not sure what to think other than…WTF?



What are the odds of meeting your neighbour from a little town in south western Ontario, population 11,000, on an overlook at Mount St Helens in Washington? Talk about a small world! It seems Steve was moving out around when we were moving in so we never actually met.

We left the Twilight Zone and headed south, in a northerly fashion. But who’s complaining when the maps looks like this:

The riding here was just off the charts fun.



Had a chuckle at this sign.

After a stop over in Vancouver, Washington, we headed back to the coast stopping at Beverly Beach State Park. Another great campground located right next to the ocean. In the morning we took a walking path right under 101 to get to the beach. I will admit, it felt good to be back at the water. We liked the place so much, we extended our stay to 3 nights. Our new found philosophy of “ride for a couple of days, stay for 3” was really growing on us.

The hotel in Vancouver was...let's say, unique.


Hello front desk? Yes, I seem to be running a bit low on toilet paper. Could you please send up some more? I mean what went through the head of the person who decided this was a good idea? You can conduct business while doing...your business I guess. I realize there are those that already do this with cell phones but still, it looks strange.



Making dinner at Beverly Beach State Park.



What da ya think Jonathan?



Somewhere south of Newport, OR, along the 101.



We continued down highway 101 another day before cutting across east on route 42 at Bandon and then taking I-5 south into Medford.



As much as we didn’t want to leave the coast, the weather had turned cold and wet. Less than an hour after leaving the coast and before we even got to the I-5, the skies cleared up completely and the temp skyrocketed to the 90’s. The landscape, much like the temperature, changed dramatically. Everything near the ocean had been green and very lush, moss covered trees and ferns everywhere. Here along the I-5, the colour of choice was dessert brown. You could feel the lack of moisture in the air.

I looked out the window of the coffee shop in Medford and saw the hill side in the distance. A moment later, I looked up again and it was gone. Like a Klingon warbird, it’s cloaking device had rendered it invisible. There were several large forest fires burning in northern California so I guess I wasn’t surprised that the smoke was making its way all the way up here into southern Oregon, in fact we could see as we rode down the I-5. But what surprised us was how thick the smoke was. I mean it completely concealed a hillside a few miles away. Not only that but set foot outside, and you could literally smell the smoke. The Happy Camp fire in Northern California was the closest to us and had been burning for well over a month at this point and still was not 100% contained. It was just so weird that no one paid it any attention. It’s business as usual here.

In an effort to be consistent, we spent a few days hanging out in Medford. What’s in Medford? Well, a Triumph dealership, an REI and an Eddie Bauer, a great burger joint and several Starbucks. We noticed a trend on the west coast with Starbucks by the way. Most of them offer free wifi with speeds of over 50Mpbs - that’s FIFTY megabits per second! Do you hear that Canada? Back home, everyone is advertising free wifi everywhere you go, but you’re lucky to get 0.5Mbps.

REI - well it’s been at least a few weeks since we’ve spent money at one, so we figured we better get back on track. Actually as much as I really love my merino wool clothing, the stuff just doesn’t seem to last. I’ve now gone through a merino wool shirt and 2 pairs of underwear on this trip. Yes, some will say I’m full of s…but they had all just disintegrated on me. I’m sticking with my ExOfficio from now on. Also a few weeks ago, my Eddie Bauer sweater went through a magical wash and dry cycle going in as a MED and coming out as an extra small. Isn’t polyester not supposed to shrink? So I decided to put their lifetime warranty to the test. I walked into the store with just the sweater (the receipt didn’t make the packing list) and walked out with a brand new size MED sweater. Thank you very much Eddie.

We also picked up a brand new rear tire for Tigger with the intent of having it installed at the Horizons meeting we were now heading to in Mariposa, California. Grant Johnson does an excellent tire change presentation at every meeting that he attends, so I volunteered our bike and tire. You’re gonna carry a tire to California? Where you gonna put that thing?


Problem solved!

Apparently putting a new tire on the back of a very loaded bike, makes you look totally bad ass! It’s like we became stars all of a sudden. People started taking pics of us literally everywhere we went and every time I looked over at someone passing us in their Prius - yes we got passed by a Prius (having this much crap strapped to your bike slows you down a bit, what can I say), I would see a thumbs up from someone inside. Another guy in a bimmer, circled us to get a better view, probably wondering where we had the fridge plugged in.


Even the animals stared at us, no doubt dumbfounded by the big rubber strapped to the top to the back of the bike.

Our next stop was back on the coast in Eureka! I’ve always wanted to go to Eureka for some reason. I remember tracing the 101 down the coast on a map many years ago and the name just caught my attention. I thought how cool it must be there. Sadly, the first thing that stood out when we got there was the amount of homelessness. Very different than I had envisioned.


We felt much safer when we saw the Zombie Outbreak Response Team stationed at our hotel. Still, we tried to be quiet so as not to wake the Walkers.


Had some funny moments buying at the gas station. I got carded for the first time in a long time. In fact I think I’ve been carded more on this trip than I have in my entire life. Of course I left my ID at the hotel across the road so I had to walk back to get it before dude behind the counter would relinquish that tasty malt beverage. After finishing my I decided I wanted another one - some days they just go down so nicely. Same dude behind the counter, says: “can I see some ID?”. Really? I was just here like half hour ago. Better prepared this time, I presented my ID...again. Half hour later (these were American sized s, so they take a few minutes to...enjoy), back to the gas station I go and sure enough, dude once again asks me for ID. “You know I’m not getting any younger” I said as I pulled out my drivers licence, again. I know, I know, I should have just got enough liquid refreshments from the get go.


In the morning we rode into town to check out the Black Lightning Motorcycle Cafe. Motorcycle parking out front (Lori wondered if we’d fit into one spot - yup) and all kinds of classic bikes and bike parts strategically placed inside adding to the ambiance of the place.





Their menu looked pretty good too. Panini’s named after bikes; The Triumph, The Suzuki, The Ducati, The Norton and more. We totally loved the place.


We ordered the Humboldt Breakfast Quesadilla. Made with eggs, Humboldt fog cheese, onion, tomato, arugula and garlic-mayo, add bacon for the the most amazing flavour combination. WOW! This thing was like an orchestra going off in my mouth. You absolutely have to stop in and try one of these if you’re passing through.



We came back to the cafe later in the day for a coffee and ran into Julie and Vincent sitting inside. We first met them at the HU meeting in Nakusp, BC. Originally from France, they’ve been living in Quebec and are currently travelling to South America.


Small world.

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If you follow our Facebook page you will no doubt know that I’m somewhat behind in the blog. In fact Facebook is probably the best place to keep tabs on us as Lori updates it more often than I can write a post here.

We’ve been having an absolute blast in California over the last while and I just haven’t been able to sit down in front of the computer long enough to compose something to post. A couple of days ago, I sat down with every intention of catching up but instead all I heard was the echo of Lori’s words from that morning: “Jenn passed away”. Jennifer was an amazing person that Lori and I both worked with for many years. She had a glow about her that seemed to radiate warmth, compassion and love. She had been struggling with cancer for several years and finally lost her battle November 12 at the age of 44.

Here we are gallivanting around North America on our motorcycle and life just seems to go on. It’s very strange. I remember this same feeling when my father passed away about 2 years ago, the feeling that life just continues seemingly like nothing ever happened. It’s very bizarre to be honest. What does this have to do with our blog? Nothing. Everything! As weird as it may sound, I find that death has an interesting way of inspiring us to live, to follow our dreams. It reminds me to not take for granted the amazing opportunity we have everyday to do almost anything we can dream of and to live life with passion.






Back in California and just a short ride south of Eureka, we got off the 101 to ride through the Avenue of the Giants in Humboldt Redwoods State Park. It’s about a 30 miles stretch of road that parallels the much busier and faster moving highway 101.


Taking the Avenue allows you to meander through the forest and enjoy some of the massive redwoods.




When I say massive I mean over 350 feet in height, that’s the height of a 30+ story skyscraper.





Some of these bad boys weigh in around 1 million pounds, give or take a pound and can be as old as 2000 years. Immune to nearly anything short of an axe, the bark is thick enough to withstand fire. Yet 96% of the original redwoods have been lost due to extensive logging during the early 1900's. Lori wondered if these trees could talk…



After 5 straight nights indoors, we were back to the coast and also back to more familiar accommodations, our tent. First at MacKerricher State Park north of Fort Bragg and then Doran Beach Campground in Bodega Bay. The latter was right on the beach but unlike the $14 we spent on camping at Kalaloch in Washington, California was a bit on the more expensive side at $32.

The riding between these two places was off the charts as highway 1 serpentines its way down the coast towards San Francisco.


Gaining in elevation and with the ocean on our right, the road all of a sudden turned inland into a dense forest. A few s-bends later, we would poke back out again at another cliff, the road appearing to simply head out into the ocean before making another sharp turn inland at the last moment. Rinse and repeat. It was a dizzying ride. As if the surrounding beauty and difficulty of the road wasn’t enough of a challenge, we found ourselves riding through and open range with cows grazing only a few feet off the road. Remembering the line from the movie Twister, I blurted out “we got cows”. I was completely spent by the time we rolled into Doran Beach.


Just as we finished setting up our tent, the folks across the road came over and offered us their beachfront campsite and pile of fire wood. We guessed they were there the entire weekend and had also paid for today - Sunday, so they could enjoy the entire day at the beach before heading home. Since they already had the fire going, we took them up on their offer and picked up and carried our tent across the road.

The next morning continued to build on what was already my most favourite road to ride. We almost missed it as the GPS had routed us away from San Francisco towards our destination in Vallejo. After a course correction, we were back on the 1 heading south. Just north of San Francisco, highway 1 runs right along the edge of the cliffs, several hundred feet above the ocean. More s-bends here - a lot more, most of them with recommended speeds from 15-20MPH, and a lot of hairpins. But don’t look down, in fact don’t miss a turn. Missing one of the corners is not advisable there are often no guardrails to speak of. Just a few feet of dirt past the end of pavement and then several hundred feet down to the Pacific Ocean. The view was truly mesmerizing!


Our pot at the end of this rainbow was the Golden Gate bridge. Super exciting as this was another bucket list item for me. It certainly didn’t disappoint.


Coolest tour vehicle I’ve ever seen.




The much less popular view of the Golden Gate and SF bay. I can’t imagine why.


Everything is built on a hill around here, not only that but no two houses look alike. Nothing like the suburbia we're used to.



Last week when we signed up to attend the upcoming HU meeting in California, we also signed up to do a presentation. This meant we had only a few days to not only learn how to use our presentation software, Keynote but also come up with a 45 minute presentation. Right. So we spent the next few days indoors in Vallejo doing just that. Thank goodness Keynote has a pretty short learning curve and Lori has lots of patience…for me that is. Getting off the highway before the hotel I caught a glimpse of the road sign - California 37. We had been listening quite a lot to Train’s album of the same title on this trip so I thought it was cool to come across the road by happenstance.

It turned out to be another great HU meeting, this one busier than any of the previous ones, for us at least. Not only did we get scheduled to do our presentation twice, but we also volunteered our services to help out and ended up being scheduled more volunteer shifts than before. In addition, we also volunteered our bike for Grant’s tire change presentation which Grant later called the hardest tire change he’d ever done - more on that later.


Setting up away from the party crowd...or so we thought.


Completely by accident, we set up our tent next to Melanie and Greg (and their pup Gypsy). Greg messaged us through our Facebook page a while back. In the previous picture above, you can see their bike and the cut out in the top case for Gypsy.

Although the weather had been pretty good over the last week coming down the coast, we were looking forward to Mariposa. The forecast was dry and hot for the foreseeable future. In fact it hadn’t rained in Mariposa since the 1980’s. You of course know where this is going right? Let’s see, it rained Friday, there was a huge downpour on Saturday and on Sunday, we rode into town for an afternoon wrap up to the meeting and it dumped on us for a couple of hours. We were also quite happy to have our warm weather gear as it got down to single digits (Celcius) every night.


Stormy weather often makes for some beautiful sunsets.


As usual, there were lots of bike to ogle.

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Craig Vetter designed streamlined bike. You can actually pick up your own kit here: Vetter Streamliner Superstore


Not designed by Craig Vetter - not aerodynamic enough.


Lining up for breakfast.


No problem as long as I have my morning tea.

Our presentation was on “Getting started on a 2 up RTW - false starts and pitfalls of getting going.” We actually weren’t sure what to expect and wondered if anyone would show up since we were scheduled early on the first day of the meeting. As it turned out, enough people showed up that we had to use the microphones. Neither Lori or I have a great deal of experience with public speaking, so it’s a little outside of our comfort zone, much like this entire adventure of ours. I mean who feels comfortable selling their house and quitting their job to ride their motorcycle around the world.

Of course we both thought we bombed the presentation, so we decided to make a few changes for the following day. By the time we were done, we had re-written the entire thing essentially. Our second attempt felt like it went much smoother. It was pretty fun experience to be honest, it was cool to be on the other side of the table, trying to inspire others, to all of a sudden be one of the experts.

Even with our busy schedule, we still got a chance to enjoy a few presentations of our own, the highlight of which for me was the author of Jupiter’s Travels, Ted Simon. He was one of the first people to ride his motorcycle (a Triumph) around the world back in the 1970’s, a journey that took him 4 years.


Totally packed room for this presentation.


Interestingly Mr. Simon has an uncanny resemblance to my late father.


Ron Grace from Lost for a Reason (Lost For A Reason.org - Lost For A Reason.org Helping Children And Families in Need, Fundraising For Playgrounds Work Projects And Services). <em>Lost for a Reason.org was founded as a way to say THANK YOU to the children and families on the N​avajo reservation,...for the use of the land,..to ride, to run,..to explore!.. a way to help children and famiies in need! We listen to the families and we do our best to fill whatever needs they have from personal items,..to playgrounds!</em>. Why we like em? 100% of money donated gets to those in need.


Tigger looking a little naked at Grant’s tire change presentation.




I had no idea what I volunteered myself for. It took us more than 10 minutes just to break the bead and there were at least 4 or 5 of us taking turns trying to get the tire off the rim. The Heidenau K60's are a notoriously hard tire to mount because the rubber is so incredibly stiff. The valley in the rim on the Tiger is also very shallow. The combination of the two made this one of the hardest tire changes ever according to Grant. Easy enough if you're at home with the right tools. Definitely a learning experience. Note to self - always have someone else mount a K60 for you.


Checking out Mike's gear presentation. Lori met Mike the night before and when she found out he was a local, she asked if he knew a safe place to store our bike for a couple of weeks while we fly home for Thanksgiving. His response, "sure, my garage". We can't say enough about how grateful we were for such an offer.


We also ran into Vincent and Julie again. They made an unplanned appearance late Saturday and we all stuck around till Monday. Once again we were the last ones to leave.


Monday the nice weather rolled in and we rolled out. We figured it was time to bring rain and cold to another community.

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Since we were so close, we decided to visit Yosemite National Park. I had actually been debating hiking Half Dome, something I've wanted to do since first learning about it years ago. However I decided to take a pass due to logistical reasons . For starters you have to book a permit to hike Half Dome a couple of days ahead of time which meant that we'd have to stick around in Yosemite Valley till then. Not exactly a hardship but Mike, who we met at the HU meeting and who offered us his garage to store our bike, also invited us to tag along with his wife, Kati and him on their bike trip for a few days. Something we both felt was an opportunity not to be missed. Besides, my legs have gotten a bit soft over the last several months from all this riding and sitting, so I wasn’t sure how I’d fare climbing up a mountain for most of a day. Not to mention there is just so much good hiking around here that I couldn’t begin to get it all in over the few days we’d have here. Alas, my bucket list continues to grow.


Yosemite valley is absolutely stunning. It's one of the more amazing places that I've been to, and even though it's packed with tourists, I somehow find it peaceful. I could easily spend days here just hanging out getting lost in the natural beauty. About the only disappointing thing was that we were here in the fall so all the incredible waterfalls were all but a trickle.


Much like a good action movie reeling you in with the opening scenes, El Capitan's 3000 foot vertical granite wall kind of captures your attention as you ride in.


Half Dome continues the assault on your visual senses with it’s 4700+ foot vertical rise from the valley floor. It’s almost surreal looking.


Tigger posing with Half Dome in the background.


Not exactly afraid of people or cars, these guys kinda did their own thing.


We were riding along enjoying the scenery in Yosemite Valley, when I see this lady at the side of the road waving her arms all frantic like. I wonder why?


The roads weren't too bad either.

We were also feeling the effects of being in each others skin nearly every single moment over the last 5 months. We were having a few Venus & Mars days and our buckets seem to be filling up more quickly these days, something that luckily doesn’t seem to happen very often. I have to tell you it’s kind of annoying to be in such a shitty mood in a spectacular setting like this.


Closest campground with available spots was all the way in Wawona, about an hour away from Yosemite Village.


It was our first campground with a bear locker at every site. The thing was large enough for us to sleep in, never mind the food, or maybe that's the idea.


The morning sun filtering through the trees and fog made for one spectacular sunrise.

We heard Glacier Point offered some of the best views of Yosemite Valley so after some warm beverages, we saddled up and backtracked a bit.


Great views? Check! You can barely make out a small waterfall towards the bottom of the valley.


In fact as we zoomed in some more, we could see hikers at the top of Half Dome. Cool!




We pulled over at an overlook on the east side of Yosemite Tunnel.


El Capitan directly behind my head and Half Dome visible off in the distance. It's hard not to be a little awestruck being here.


Say cheeeese! Or "Mai Tai" as they say in Hawaii before taking pics.

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Good to hear you guys are still alive
Thanks for the memory jog Mark. We did Yosemite about 20yrs back & it is just a gorgeous place to visit.

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My memory is becoming that good, I should be able to organise my own surprise party soon

Very much alive and still rolling . California has by far been our most favourite state to date. Absolutely amazing experience here.

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